In Mopti, Mali, farmers are combating climate change by adopting ecosystem conservation methods and using high quality climate information for agroforestry, crop, livestock management decisions.

1. For key components
of ecosystem take up
Capacity building
▪▪ Adoption of
dryland cereals
▪▪ Improved resilient
varieties
▪▪ Composting
▪▪ Microdosing
▪▪ Intercropping
▪▪ Resource management
▪▪ Managing community
property
▪▪ Use of natural products
▪▪ Income-generating activities
▪▪ Environment compliant
practices
For information
dissemination and capacity
building establish
Facilitating groups Technology
Parks
Nursery
groups
Committees for early
weather warning
Crop season calendar Local bulletins
Crops Climate change adaptation
Develop climate
change action plan
based on community
driven priorities
Produce and disseminate
high quality
Climate information
▪▪ Forage crops
▪▪ Fodder banks
▪▪ Trainings on Farmers’
Managed Natural
Regeneration
▪▪ Tree propagation,
multiplication and
grafting techniques
▪▪ Improved nurseries
Conservation
technologies:
▪▪ Contour
boundaries
▪▪ Zai pits
▪▪ Stone boundaries
Farmers and
community take
decisions on
farming systems
Monitoring &
Evaluation
Document climate smart
practices through
Learning Agenda
Monthly village missions Year-round awareness activity
Farmers
Councils
Farmer
Field Schools
Fodder Bank
Committees
Innovation
Platforms
Livestock Soil & water Agroforestry
Modify & Innovate
to address social and
cultural barriers; critical issues
of marginalized population,
women and youth
Using climate information to build resilient agroecosystems
4. Met advisory and farm systems approach
21Building Climate-Smart Villages20 Building Climate-Smart Villages

2. The challenge
Frequent recurrence of dry years since 1968 and
prolonged drought have been the bane of the
Mopti region in Mali. Inter-annual rainfall variability
is very high and the region is exposed to both
flooding and drought1
.
Increasing soil degradation and erosion has
worsened the situation affecting on-farm productivity
and food security.
Nearly 40% of households have a poor or limited
food consumption score (2013). The average
rates of stunting stand at 46.5%. Levels of wasting are
also very high at 14.7%2
.
In Mopti, Mali, farmers are combating climate change by adopting ecosystem conservation methods
and using high quality climate information for agroforestry, crop, livestock management decisions.
Interventions
Innovative climate-resilient technologies developed
specifically for Mopti, Mali, were implemented in 458
ha to demonstrate that climate change adaptation is
achievable.
Participatory planning
This activity resulted in an action plan that
tapped local knowledge and emphasized
on strong community linkages to take
collective action and generate internal answers to
common issues.
To implement the action plan the following activities
were implemented.
Establishing facilitating groups/institutions
▪▪ Groups for dissemination of climate information
such as Groupes Locaux d’Assistance
Météorologique (GLAM), Groupes
Communaux d’Assistance
Météorologique au Monde Rural (GCAM)
and committees for early warning such as Comites
Locaux d’Alerte Precoce (CLAP) were set up.
▪▪ Innovation Platforms were set up to provide a
forum for science and technical service providers,
farmers, herders, fisher folk and decision makers.
Information shared enables stakeholders to provide
community level recommendations and influence
decision making through village planning meetings,
farmers’ local committees, and farmers’ councils.
▪▪ Technology Parks were established to support
innovation diffusion and uptake of improved
practices that have been tested on farmers’ fields.
Nursery groups and Rural Resource Centers for
agroforestry production and market linkages have
also been set up.
▪▪ Farmer Field Schools (FFSs) provided training
on resilient technologies and other innovative
practices specific to the village.
▪▪ Fodder bank management committees ensured
growing high-protein forage crops like legumes and
trees like baobab that make for good leafy food banks.
▪▪ Farmer’s Council (Conseil d’Agriculture) managed
community areas.Source: 1
FAO, 2
USAID
Climate change predictions for 2025 point
at an average temperature increase
of 2.71°C to 4.51°C.
Rainfall is predicted to decrease by 11%.
Crop yields may decrease by 5.5% and forage yields
may fall by 20%.
Non climate-driven problems such as rangeland
management, increasing population pressures,
lack of capital for investment and incentives for
sustainable rural development, are likely to be
greatly aggravated by climate change.
Mali
Mopti
Capacity building
Capacity development was based on
locally driven needs and applied local
adaptation approaches.
In the crop sector, the training included innovative
horticulture systems and dryland cereals
technologies such as improved varieties, soil fertility
management, and crop/legume systems.
Crop and livestock systems have been supported
by fodder banks. For composting activities, farmers’
groups were provided with tools and materials.
In agroforestry systems, the training included
grafting, tree food banks, exclusion of areas from
direct production to rehabilitate degraded land, and
farm-based natural regeneration.
Trainings on soil and water conservation techniques
like contour boundaries, zai pits and stone
boundaries were taken up by FFSs.
Diffusion of high quality climate information
Crop season calendar
The calendar shows water availability for
cropping decisions, available grasslands
and forest area for herders, and status
of ponds and rivers for fisher folk. It is
prepared by Mali Meteo, Mali’s agrometeorological
advisory program.
Stakeholders with increased capacity to adapt to impacts of climate change 372,770
Stakeholders implementing risk reducing practices/actions to improve resilience 8,580
3,089 women; 5,411 men
Stakeholders using climate information in their decision making 170,000
76,000 women; 94,000 men
Stakeholders with increased knowledge to adapt to the impacts of Climate Change 194,281
102,276 women; 92,005 men
People receiving training in Global Climate Change adaptation 4967
2233 women; 2734 men
Institutions with improved capacity to address Climate Change issues 32
Number of hectares under Climate Change improved technologies /management practices 458
Local bulletins
Local groups use the crop season calendar to prepare
bulletins for farmers for radio transmission every 10
days over the season.
Monthly missions
Committees for Early Warning convey monthly
information through village assemblies for improving
planning of agricultural activities.
Year-round activity
Climate Change awareness is spread through radio,
theatre, public conferences, school debates and
inclusion in curricula; sharing of knowledge between
stakeholders through various fora.
Mainstreaming gender into activities
Efforts were made to include women in all activities.
The participatory planning discussion had 46%
women. The CLAP has 33% women. Volunteer
women farmers have taken up resilient farming
practices and have shown interest in intercropping
cereals and legumes, and horticulture.
To increase Climate Change awareness among
women, radio programs are broadcast at times that
are convenient for them.
The ‘learning agenda’: The learning agenda is a
research effort designed to inform the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID)
projects about how to build a more effective climate
resilient agricultural sector in Mopti.
2015 IMPACT
Project:
Disseminating learning agenda
on resilient-smart technologies to
improve the adaptive capacity of
smallholder farmers in Mopti
Investor:
United States Agency for International
Development (USAID), Accelerated
Economic Growth Program (Add on),
Global Climate Change (GCC)
This work is being
undertaken
as part of the
Partners:
The World Agroforestry Centre
(ICRAF), Aga Khan Foundation,
World Vision Mali and ICRISAT22 Building Climate-Smart Villages